Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Pitiless Cruelty: Cynicism, Capitalism, And Gambling In The Writing Of Mario Puzo, David Schwartz

Executive Vice President & Provost Faculty Publications

The Godfather made him a wealthy man, but Mario Puzo’s long years as a struggling writer and childhood in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen conditioned him to treat money—and those who made a great deal of it—with suspicion. This paper explores how Puzo’s cynical views of capitalism were buttressed by his experiences as a self-described “mildly degenerate” gambling, and how they are expressed in both his fiction and non-fiction.